Fire
Up Your Opportunity Strategy

Opportunity strategy is a key driver
of growth. The first step is to consider how you
define your company and how you deliver value. Delivering value to
customers
is the reason that every business exists. Company definition affects
the way that you think about areas of opportunity.

To fire up your opportunity strategy, we ask three questions:

How can you deliver more value?

How can you differentiate?

Is there opportunity at the edges?

How Can You Deliver More Value?

As the American economy
becomes increasingly sophisticated, companies will sell
more services and fewer standalone products. Services are more
important
than products in a sophisticated economy. The consequence is that
growth opportunities will be focused on new services that deliver more
value to the customer.

The best opportunity strategy answers the question — How can we
identify and obtain the skills to deliver more value? An effective
strategy
does not ask — How can we sell more widgets?

This point is elegantly made by Jeff Bezos of Amazon:

We
start with the customer and we work backward… Rather than ask what are
we good at and what else can we do with that skill, you ask who are our
customers? What do they need? And then you say we’re going to give that
to them regardless of whether we currently have the skills to do so,
and we will learn those skills no matter how long it takes.

This
is the quintessence of an opportunity strategy. Determine who you want
your customers to be and then develop or acquire the skills to
serve their needs.

Differentiation
is the Key to Competitive Advantage

The leaders in most industries are the companies
that are
the most highly differentiated. They maintain this differentiation by
constantly adapting to changes in the marketplace. The successful
company relentlessly builds on its differentiation. Successful
differentiation is the only way to generate sustained growth over the
long run.

The best opportunity strategy focuses on finding ways to differentiate
your company. You differentiate by acquiring new skills
and services that set you apart from your competitors.

Opportunity at the Edges

Meaningful change always occurs at the edges. Every market touches on a
number of tangential markets. This is where new growth and new ideas
emerge.

There are always adjacent markets. Thus, there are always opportunities.

Most people do not look at the edges; they look at the middle. There is
no
opportunity in the middle; the middle has already been discovered. The
edge is where opportunity resides.

Do not get locked into existing industry structures. Market boundaries
are not a given; they can be reshaped. Expand your horizons. Create a
new
market sector at the edge.

Many small firms are solving new problems that the big companies are
not addressing. These are excellent growth opportunities. Push the
boundaries—seek opportunity at the edges.

T.V. Metz & Co., LLC helps companies devise and
execute opportunity strategies. We reframe your company
definition and how you
deliver value to your customers. We identify opportunities to
differentiate your firm and we explore opportunity at the edges.